I’ve been seventy-nine for two days. So far, so good. Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes. I’m very aware that I’m lucky to be here and even luckier to have my wonderful family and friends on this journey with me.

Lately, however, I have been thinking about how different I am now than I was nine years ago. In the first half of this decade, my job defined who I was as much as my family. That certainly changed. Though I have a busy and fulfilling retirement, I miss my work community. Note: I don’t want to be there, but I still miss it.

Many other things have changed. My cell phone was a clamshell then, and now it is a computer. Our grandchildren were toddlers and now they are so much fun to talk to and hang out with. We’re a little slower at just about everything we do, but we still “do”.

And, as always, I am so grateful that I have Peter. For my birthday, he bought me my favorite flowers and a gadget that I can’t explain, but that should help us produce some interesting (and healthy) deserts. And we had dinner out with friends.

Because I started kindergarten a year younger than my classmates, my high school and college friends are turning 80 this year. I’m keeping an eye on them to see what lies ahead.